#robert mueller

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Noah Berlatsky at Public Notice:

Though it’s largely already been forgotten, 2024 was not a completely peaceful election. Anonymous terrorists, probably working for Russia, sent bomb threats to numerous majority Black and Native American polling places in battleground states in an effort to disrupt voting and aid the Trump campaign.

The threats were widely reported on Election Day itself. However, in the aftermath of Trump’s narrow but definitive win, there has been little discussion of these egregious, deliberate attacks on democracy in general, and on the voting rights of Black and Native American people in particular. Analysts have instead focused on whether the Democrats and Kamala Harris should have run further to the left or further to the right or further in some other direction. The bomb threats did not change the election outcome, so it’s perhaps understandable that they have not been a focus of the collective, apparently endless post-election autopsy. But the lack of interest in an egregious assault on American democracy is a mistake. The attacks demonstrate how fragile our democracy is. And they provide a blueprint for the MAGA regime to tamper in elections in the future. The fact that incoming president Donald Trump can and probably would try to block investigations into Russia’s involvement — and into the Trump campaign’s potential involvement as well — is chilling. If we want to prevent attacks like this in the future, it’s important not to instantly memory hole the attack that just happened.

A coordinated attack on democracy, and on Democrats

The hoax bomb threats on Election Day were sent to polling locations in the swing states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona. The FBI said that many of the threats “appear[ed] to originate from Russian email domains.”

None of the threats were credible, and no bombs were found. However, the threats did cause disruptions in Georgia, where five polling places were evacuated. Hours were extended at those locations to ensure all voters could cast their ballots. Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State best known for refusing to aid Trump in his coup attempt in 2020, argued that Russia was attempting to undermine faith in the US system of government. The Russians are “up to mischief it seems,” he said. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.” This is probably true, as far as it goes. But it seems important to note that the bomb threats weren’t just randomly distributed attempts to undermine the electoral process. Like threats of violence in the 2020 election, they were intended specifically to target and discourage Democratic voters in key swing states.

Polls heading into November 5 indicated the election would be extremely close, so whoever was behind the threats had good reason to believe that even minor disruptions in Democratic leaning areas could tip the balance and hand Trump a win in a tight race. In the event, Trump’s win was large enough, and the disruptions small enough, that they didn’t change the outcome. But the pattern of interference nonetheless makes it clear which side was being targeted. Fulton County, Georgia, a Democratic stronghold with a 43.7 percent plurality of Black voters, received 32 bomb threats by email and phone. Neighboring DeKalb county (53.7 percent Black) was also targeted for threats. Police had to sweep six polling locations. Similarly, bomb threats in Pennsylvania were directed at polling locations in Democratic majority city Philadelphia. In Wisconsin, Madison was targeted; in Michigan, Detroit. In Arizona, polling locations on the lands of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe were both threatened. Native voters tend to favor Democrats (as they did this year, despite some misleading early exit polls).

Russia helps Trump because Trump helps Russia

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Putin would attempt to help Trump. Russian election interference globally has been designed to advance the far right and boost candidates friendly to Russia’s authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin. Putin has been doling out money to boost and buy the allegiance of far right candidates across Europe, focusing especially on getting Europe to abandon Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. His interference in Romania’s recent election on behalf of far right candidate Călin Georgescu was so egregious that the Romanian Constitutional Court invalidated the election results.

And of course Putin interfered in the 2016 presidential election, waging a sweeping electoral interference campaign. Russian intelligence hacked the Democratic National Committee network, stealing and releasing private emails, which drove news cycles throughout the campaign and boosted Trump, who won the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote. (Trump continues to deny there was any election interference, because of course he does.) According to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which was launched after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey amid a probe of his campaign’s connections with the Kremlin, Russia attempted to hack the DNC shortly after Trump publicly urged Putin to expose and disseminate Hillary Clinton’s emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” Trump said, live on television. A Senate investigation found numerous links between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016. And Putin tried again to help Trump (unsuccessfully) in 2020. In return, Trump has consistently and successfully undermined support for Ukraine within the GOP while legitimizing Putin as a global player.

Trump’s link to Russia were not fully investigated or prosecuted after 2016 because Trump, with the power of the presidency behind him, did everything he could to delegitimize and block the investigation in ways that may well have constituted obstruction of justice. He was aided in that by a Republican Party dead set against any suggestion that the 2016 election victory that allowed them to stack the Supreme Court and cut taxes for billionaires was in any way compromised. Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general (who has subsequently become a Trump critic), downplayed and mischaracterized Mueller’s report about Russian interference, creating a narrative that helped the right to dismiss the findings. Supposedly moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins refused to even consider impeachment on the basis of Trump’s links to Russia. This is, to put it mildly, an ominous precedent for investigation of, and accountability for, Russian bomb threats during 2024. Raffensperger (again, a Trump critic) wouldn’t even acknowledge that the threats were intended to help Trump.

[...] Putin, Trump, and Republicans have learned that potentially violent election interference targeting Democratic voters is fine as long as you win. If they aren’t made to pay some sort of price, why wouldn’t they do it again?

Bomb threats at swing state polling places on Election Day were a Russian campaign to intimidate potential Kamala Harris supporters.

[dosesofcommonsense]

Tell me 9/11 was an inside job without telling me 9/11 was committed by parts of our government.

[jackass-democrats]

Russia hoax

[foreverlogical]

The Trolls Have Gotten Better

Nothing like someone calling Biden out for everything that Trump is 100% worse on policy about. Completely ignoring the consequences of the last Trump Presidency, especially Roe v Wade as if it didn't happen or blaming Dems for not fixing it even though they didn't have a majority because of Manchin and Sinema.

They are blaming Democrats for things that Republican majorities are responsible for. Then they pretend they want the same things as you but say they can't bring themselves to vote for Biden. Sound familiar? Never forget:

The most important line in the Mueller report appears in the introduction to Volume I:

“The Russian government interfered with the 2016 election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” 

Mueller has published a detailed accounting of Russia’s attack on our presidential election. His report describes how Russia conducted a social-media disinformation campaign and weaponized email messages to sabotage the election. Mueller’s description of the Russia attack makes it clear that information warfare is the new battleground.

How much better at it do you think they've gotten since 2016 and Putin's complete takeover of Russian media and elimination of all dissenters?

[jackassdemocrats]

Mueller report hoax

As always, never buy anything made in china. Don't ever trust a democrat and NEVER leave your child alone with one.

[memenewsdotcom]

Durham report released

[willpollock]

Your assumptions about 9/11 attacks are about to turn on a dime [BLOG SERIES]

"a new filing in a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims against Saudi Arabia alleges that al-Qaeda had significant, indeed decisive, state support for its attacks" https://t.co/1OPAtmvxZg pic.twitter.com/uEaA6PSYbn — Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) May 26, 2024 This is Part 1 of a 3-part blog series, exclusively on CrankyYank.com Conventional wisdom is rarely…

[seagull-astrology]

C196 Dithering John Durham

U.S. Attorney John Durham may wait until after the 2020 presidential election to make his conclusions public on the Ukraine-gate scandal because as his ascendant shows, Aries 30, he needs to get his ducks all set up in a row. This meticulousness borders on procrastination and indecision — aka who can he afford to hurt more — is further shown by Venus in Aquarius in the tenth house — a constant…

[lordrakim]

John Durham’s Report Used Sketchy Intelligence That Might Be Russian Disinformation

John Durham’s final report blasts the FBI for using the so-called Steele dossier, a compilation of unconfirmed claims about Donald Trump and Russia, without sufficiently considering the chance that Steele’s findings contained deliberate Russian falsehoods. But Durham himself relies substantially on a sketchy intelligence product that may be Russian disinformation to push a partisan political…

[disease]

“COOKIE MUELLER” (NYC) ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE // 1978 [gelatin silver print | 13 7/8 × 13 3/4”]

[leonsliga]

I've really been missing Müllendowski lately. As cute as Harry and Thomas are, Thomas and Lewy are just on another level. When Thomas became Bayerns record player, Robert said that his relationship with Thomas is unique, and Thomas said that they have a very special bond. I just want them back 😪

Nothing wrong with that ❤️ Thomas always seems to get on well with his strikers, and while Harry’s no exception, what he and Lewy had was beyond special. Once in a lifetime, even. There was just this beautiful selflessness to it, ya know? Their relationship was never about one trying to outdo the other, as so many similar relationships in football tend to be. No…theirs was about trying to get the best out of one another, whether that came in the form of a Thomas assist and a Lewy goal or vice versa. Pretty much any form of self-sacrifice—perhaps foregoing a shot on target in a favor of a pinpoint pass—was almost always generously rewarded with a goal. That’s how good they were. And while Harry and Thomas are certainly building a similar bond (which I absolutely love!), Lewy and Thomas have longevity on their side; 8 years tearing up the Bundesliga together is no small feat!

Their partnership was implicit—telepathic, almost. There wasn’t a move one couldn’t anticipate the other making. They just got each other. And sure, I could wax poetic about the nature of their relationship, but I like to think they tell it better themselves 😁

And of course, as you pointed out, there’s perhaps no better insight into the depth of their bond than Robert’s literal love letter to Thomas when he became Bayern’s record player:

But it’s not just kind words with them, it’s the electricity in every touch—the passion in their joint goal celebrations and the comforting caresses in the haze of defeats:

Not to mention the bedroom eyes literally every time they looked at each other because they were so helpless and neither of them had anything even remotely resembling a poker face (especially not Lewy lmao):

[polycraftory]

August 2024 Reads

This Month's Favs

Gabe @words-writ-in-starlight (wordswritinstarlight on Storygraph) : The Husky & His White Cat Shizun (2ha) Volume 6 by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat. Runner up is the whole Murderbot series by Martha Wells (on a re-listen). They refuse to pick favorites.

Nic (businesswife) : The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco for fav novel and Re-Living My Life with A Boyfriend who Doesn't Remember Me by Gin Shirakawa was their favorite manga.

Meghan (edgybutfemme): The Husky & His White Cat Shizun was also probably my fav, with the final Guardian by Priest as a very close second. Literally any month I read a 2ha volume it'll be hard to pick a different fav book.

We had an absolutely wild August, but thankfully we managed to fit some reading in (especially devouring some of the manga we got at AnimeNYC)!

You can find the reviews for all of these on our individual Storygraph accounts. You can look us up by the names at the top of each of our graphics, or find the links on our website polycraftory.com (I'm not linking them because tumblr hates external links!)

We'll also be making video reviews for some of our favorites soon. You can find both a spoiler free pitch video and a full review with some spoilers on our TikTok & Youtube right now for The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller. We'll also be posting videos about Dark Restraint / The Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert in the next few days.

[akitasimblr]

what is going on here?!😳

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[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

On the right, the word of the week is “Rubicon.”  MAGA commentators from social media to Fox News are arguing that President Joe Biden and the Democrats passed a point of no return when a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme to conceal the hush-money payoff made to a porn star in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign.  They claim Trump is the victim of a politicized prosecution that requires Republicans to respond in kind by trying to throw Democrats in jail.

But Trump’s supporters are just trying to concoct a righteous excuse for doing what they have already done. Trump and the right-wing press spent his presidency teaming up to demand federal criminal probes of his political foes, only for those investigations to collapse when Trump’s own law enforcement appointees assessed the purported Democratic crimes. Indeed, Republicans and Trump appointees have overseen nearly all of the high-profile investigations of political figures conducted over the last decade. When those Republicans and Trump appointees have investigated Republicans, the probes have regularly led to criminal charges and convictions, and when those Republicans and Trump appointees have investigated Democrats, they largely have not.  And for all the right’s claims of politicized prosecutions, the record shows Democratic presidents bending over backward to appear impartial, while Trump as president constantly and publicly accused his political opponents of crimes and demanded their prosecution.

Republicans keep finding Republican crimes

One of the huge holes in the right’s argument is their claim that Biden is connected to Trump’s myriad legal travails.  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who successfully prosecuted Trump, is a Democrat — but he was elected by New York voters and charged Trump under state law, requiring the right to gin up a baroque conspiracy theory to explain how Biden supposedly masterminded the probe.  Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed racketeering charges in Georgia over Trump’s election subversion plot, is likewise elected in her own right without a tie to Biden.

Meanwhile, Trump’s classified documents and January 6 federal prosecutions are led by Jack Smith, a political independent who prosecuted politicians of both parties as head of the Justice Department’s political corruption unit. Smith took over probes launched under FBI director Christopher Wray, a Trump-appointed Republican, and received special counsel status from Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland to keep him walled off from political pressure. Trump is now a convicted felon like many of his former associates, including his former legal fixer Michael Cohen, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort, and his longtime political consigliere Roger Stone. Robert Mueller, a Republican who was appointed as FBI director by President George W. Bush, led their successful prosecutions. Mueller in turn was hand-picked to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election by Rod Rosenstein, a Republican and a Trump appointee at the Justice Department.

Republicans keep not finding Democratic crimes

At the same time, the MAGA media spent years demanding the Trump Justice Department conduct criminal probes of high-profile Democrats and other public officials who had otherwise tangled with Trump. Fox hosts like Sean Hannity, a close adviser to the former president, would read long lists of purported crimes committed by Trump’s political opponents and demand they face justice. 

But when Republicans and Trump appointees actually tried to turn frothy right-wing media reports into real cases, they failed. Trump led chants of “lock her up” during his campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but FBI Director James Comey — a Republican who oversaw the probe of her use of a private server — recommended no charges against her, and Trump’s law enforcement appointees apparently found no cause to reverse that determination.  Nor did Trump-appointed Republicans bring charges following federal probes of the Clinton Foundation and the Hillary Clinton Uranium One pseudoscandal. And the much-touted probe into the origins of the Russia probe, overseen by a Trump appointee with the full backing of Trump Attorney General William Barr, ended with a whimper.

Ever since the 34-count felony verdict against Donald Trump was handed down last week, the MAGA cult and their mouthpieces have been screeching about a “Rubicon” by demanding frivolous investigations into from Democrats in retaliation.

[thomasmuellerfcbayern]

[remainsstreet]